


Clarity

by Bl4ckHunter



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, clarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23724589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bl4ckHunter/pseuds/Bl4ckHunter
Summary: One-shot story. When hunting down Darhk, Oliver gives Laurel and Felicity a reality check regarding his methods.
Relationships: Oliver Queen and Sara Lance, Oliver Queen/Earth-1 Laurel Lance
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	Clarity

**Author's Note:**

> Something I've been considering writing. Inspired partly by Stand's story "Prophecy of the end". And one thing I'm gonna make clear, Olicity didn't happen here and Sara did not leave them. Frankly, the ending of Season 3, where Oliver left with Felicity was nothing more but stupid fan-service and Guggenheim running his pet project. Who got injured in 4x09, is going to be revealed in this story. And Oliver handing Malcolm the Ring of the Demon in Season 3 finale was stupid, so let's just say Oliver killed Malcolm in 3x23, OK?
> 
> And I'm gonna make Diggle, Laurel and Felicity less naïve and less with sticks up their butts, since we all know how arrogant, dangerous and stupid was that they believed that they knew better than Oliver, which ultimately got Laurel killed, when they convinced him not to kill Darhk.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics or the CW TV shows Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl or any other characters or elements pertaining to the mentioned franchises.

The Green Arrow was beating up and interrogating one of the Ghosts as a mental image of bloodied Thea on a gurney flashed through his mind. "Tell me where's Damien Darhk!" The archer snarled but the Ghost jumped down the rooftop onto power line, committing suicide.

* * *

_**Later, the Lair** _

"Any luck?" Diggle asked.

"Just more Ghosts who would rather die than talk!" Oliver said, visibly frustrated. "Nobody is gonna give up Darhk. John, we gotta talk to Andy again."

"I don't think Andy is in a cooperative—"

"Darhk has gone to ground, right now unless things change, Andy is our best chance of finding him." Oliver told Diggle before he turned to Laurel who just entered. "How is she?"

"She's still in surgery." Laurel said. "I think we can make it back—"

"No." Oliver cut her off. "Darhk's in the wind, the longer he's out there, the harder it's gonna be to catch him."

"Oliver, slow down. Take it easy, OK?" Felicity intervened.

"I can't slow down! I can't stop until we take him down for good!" Oliver snapped before he turned to Diggle. "John—"

Diggle nodded as he went towards Andy's cell, while Oliver asked Quentin where to find Darhk.

* * *

_**Later, Star City** _

Green Arrow, with his bow ready, searched the building and was shocked to find dead Ghosts around and on the wall of Darhk's empty office was painted a 'A' letter with a circle around it with blood. Finding out it was Lonnie Machin, Team Arrow tracked him down and captured him.

But Oliver found himself unable to get information out of Machin due to Laurel and Felicity tipping off the police and them arresting Machin.

* * *

_**Later, the Lair** _

"Have you lost your mind?" Laurel demanded as Oliver walked into the lair.

"I don't have time for a debate." Oliver snapped, hanging his bow on the stand.

"Good, what you did was—"

"What I did?" Oliver snapped, glaring at her. "I did what I had to do to find out where Darhk is! Machin was only arrested because you told the SCPD where I was holding him!"

Felicity tried to defuse the situation as she stepped up. "Hey, guys, maybe we should calm—"

"You were holding a man prisoner as some sort of personal vendetta." Laurel pointed out.

"This is not part of any vendetta." Oliver denied.

"Oliver, the man nearly killed your sister. It's perfectly understandable that you're angry." Felicity said, trying to calm them both down.

"I am angry, but that's not why I'm doing this." Oliver said to their confusion. "After what happened to Thea, I found something. Something I found those five years but lost when Tommy died." He turned to Diggle. "Do you remember what I told you that I had found, when I decided to recruit you, John?"

"Clarity." Diggle remembered.

Oliver nodded. "Four years ago, before I returned home, I was after a Russian crime lord and government strongman named Konstantin Kovar. He had been controlling Russia with iron grip and I was there to kill him but I failed. He then tracked me down and tortured me, what he put me through, almost drove me to suicide." Oliver revealed and they stared in shock. "When we went to save Ray, I had a chance to kill Darhk. An arrow through the heart, through the neck, through the head. Maybe it wouldn't have worked because of Darhk's magic.

But still, I had a chance to at least try to take him out but I didn't take it, because I thought that taking the high road was more important than saving lives. And because of that, my sister almost died, and every person that Darhk and the Ghost has killed, is on me.

When I had to hold my dying sister in my arms, I finally had to face the fact that Malcolm was right all along: Either I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save lives, or I shouldn't be out there at all."

There was a grave silence as Laurel and Felicity stared at Oliver, while Sara and Diggle considered what he had been explaining.

"I'm gonna check in on Thea. Let me know if you have any leads." Oliver said as he left.

"Wow… he's officially lost it." Felicity said after a moment.

"No." Sara shook her head as everyone turned to her. "Just stop and think about it long-term for a moment. Darhk has been trained by the League and he was Ra's best friend turned rival. No prison can keep him. He escapes and kills more innocent until we put him down for good. You may not like it but you know I'm right and Ollie's right. There's only one way to stop people like Darhk, kill them. I'm just saying that we need to be realists."

"Even if it means he's gonna lose his soul in the process? Torturing? Interrogating?" Felicity questioned.

Laurel turned to Diggle, who had been silent the whole time. "John? What do you think?"

Diggle took a breath, considering. "During my time in the military I killed and tortured my fair share of people. Doing that saved a lot of lives. Does that make me a monster?"

"Of course not." Laurel said immediately.

"Then… why are we condemning Oliver for doing the same stuff I did in the military?" Diggle asked and neither Laurel or Felicity could answer that. Diggle took a breath and sighed. "Look, I may not agree with Oliver's methods any more than you do but if it had been Andy instead of Thea… I don't know what I would've done differently if I were in Oliver's place."

"The same for me if it was you dying instead of Thea." Sara told Laurel and both Laurel and Felicity had contemplative looks on their faces.

* * *

_**Later** _

After remembering where he had seen Darhk's magic before, Oliver realized how could he beat Darhk. Then he got a call from Diggle regarding where Darhk was as Oliver entered Stonehaven, where was Darhk's manor.

Darhk had put his daughter Nora to bed, and his wife Ruve had gone to sleep as he went out, facing the Green Arrow.

"Haven't I shown you time and time again that you can't beat me?" Darhk gloated but much to his shock, Oliver managed to shoot him in the shoulder as Darhk groaned in pain, pulling the arrow out. "How—"

"I have a friend who's an expert on magic. I've seen magic like yours before. And it has one weakness. Willpower. And I've got a lot of willpower to kill you." Oliver sneered.

"Fine." Darhk sneered as he prepared to fight. "I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way. Magic or not, I was still Ra's al Ghul's successor. I won't go down so easily."

"I'm counting on that." Oliver growled before they exchanged blows. They briefly scuffled but Darhk's overreliance on magic made him unprepared for the killing blow and he stilled as he felt an arrow in his heart. Darhk grunted and glared up at Oliver before falling down and tilting his head, light leaving his eyes as Oliver walked away.

* * *

_**Later, the Lair** _

Ruve and Nora were later placed into A.R.G.U.S. custody, and with H.I.V.E. leaderless, the organization scattered into different factions as Oliver returned to the lair, noticing that Felicity was packing.

Diggle had already gone, taking care of Lyla and their daughter, holding no ill towards what Oliver had done and Sara had gone to check in on Quentin and Thea.

"Hey." Felicity said hesitantly.

"Hey…" Oliver said. "You're leaving?"

"No." Felicity shook her head. "It's just that… look, Oliver, when we reformed, I thought we were gonna do things differently."

"So did I. But I realized something. I'm what those five years away made me and nothing can change that. I'm not saying I'm gonna put down every guy I face but men like Merlyn, men like Darhk, if you're not willing to do the unthinkable, then you don't get to be out there. There are people who deal in extreme and it's naïve to think that anything less than extreme measures can stop them." Oliver said coldly.

Felicity sighed and considered. "Oliver… I… I'm not saying I disagree with what you did. But if we're gonna work this way, I'm gonna need some time to be able to accept—"

"I understand." Oliver nodded.

"If you need me, call me. But I need some time alone to think about it." Felicity said and Oliver nodded as she left.

Laurel approached Oliver as he sighed, expecting another lecture. "Laurel, I—"

"I'm not gonna lecture you. Sara already gave me the riot act, OK? And… I get it. I don't like it… but I get it." Laurel said reluctantly. "But… the way you acted… it reminded me too much of… the first year." Oliver's eyes widened, realizing she was referring to Oliver's single-minded approach as the Hood. "What I'm trying to say is… this fight, it's not only about what you might lose if you fail. It's about having heart. Don't let the mission cloud what's at stake, OK? The way you do things, all you're gonna do is eventually push us away and lose us forever."

"I know. But Anatoly once told me, 'Only trust yourself.' It's not something I can just turn on and off." Oliver said.

"I get that. But if you don't let people in, you're never gonna be happy. We may not always agree with you on some things… but I'm always gonna be here for you." Laurel promised as she held his hand. "I know I haven't always been there for you but I want to try, Ollie. Please."

Suddenly, the space between them was filled with energy they hadn't felt in years as old flames started to reignite between them. Neither of them was sure who moved first but the next thing they knew, they kissed as Oliver took off Laurel's shirt, while she unbuttoned his, as they entered the bedroom in the bunker and laid down on the bed. Oliver unclipped Laurel's bra and dropped it on the floor as they continued the routine, losing themselves in each other and Laurel moaned as she felt Oliver giving in as they kissed fiercely again.

**Author's Note:**

> Does willpower beating magic seem dumb? Perhaps but it's still better than "Happy thoughts beat magic" we got in the show. And frankly, the magic aspect was mishandled in the show, asides from the "happy thoughts", there's the matter of inconsistency, considering that Oliver had faced the exact same idol and magic in the flashbacks, yet he didn't know the source of Darhk's magic until 4x15, which proves that Guggenheim, Mericle and the Arrow showrunners are a bunch of idiots.
> 
> Laurel may not be the love of Oliver's life (and that's because the showrunners made Felicity the love of Oliver's life, which is stupid and I'm not gonna start a debate whether it is Laurel or Sara, since I like both Oliver/Laurel and Oliver/Sara but lately, I've been focused more on Oliver/Sara and I wanted to write more Oliver/Laurel) but she is his moral center. While she may not agree with Oliver's methods, she should be able to understand what is Oliver about and try to guide him on a better path but not make him a total idiot like Diggle and Felicity did, which got Laurel killed, when Diggle and Felicity, plus Tommy's death persuaded Oliver to give up killing.
> 
> Asides from Laurel, Sara understands Oliver better than anyone and they have a lot of similarities, which makes them work together. I've debated whether I would do Oliver/Sara in this one-shot but I think I've written enough Oliver/Sara fics lately and I've wanted to do few more Oliver/Laurel stories.
> 
> I will still write stories with Oliver/E-1 Laurel and Oliver/E-2 Laurel, despite that the Katie Cassidy (Laurel Lance) fanatics are making me hesitant to write them but I will also write Oliver/Sara and other alternate pairings, like Oliver/Nyssa, Oliver/Kara etc.
> 
> Asides from Laurel, Felicity needed a huge reality check too so that's what I did here and I think she'd need some time to let it sink in. And I've tried to return Diggle more to his advisor self from Seasons 1-2 rather than the egoistical hypocritical jackass we got in Seasons 3-8, hope I did fine.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.
> 
> With regards
> 
> Bl4ckHunter


End file.
